Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/346

Rh 324 alone they are really indigenous, and regard themselves as the aboriginal population. Elsewhere they are met in scattered communities chiefly round the coast of Borneo, in the Sulu Archipelago, in Tidor, Ternate, and some other members of the Molucca group, where they are held to be intruders or immigrants from Sumatra. Long considered as an independent division of mankind, the Malays are now more generally affiliated to the Mongol stock, of which A. R, Wallace, De Quatrefages, and other eminent naturalists regard them as a simple variety more or less modified by mixture with other elements. &quot; The Malayan race, as a whole, undoubtedly very closely resembles the East-Asian populations from Siam to Manchuria. I was much struck with this when in the island of Bali I saw Chinese traders who had adopted the costume of that country, and who could then hardly be distinguished from Malays ; and, on the other hand, I have seen natives of Java who, as far as physiognomy was con cerned, would pass very well for Chinese.&quot; l In fact, the typical Malay can scarcely be distinguished anthropologi cally from the typical Mongolian. He is described as of low stature, averaging little over 5 feet, 2 of olive-yellow complexion inclining to light brown or cinnamon, brachy- cephalous, with somewhat flat features, high cheek bones, black and slightly oblique eyes, small but not flat nose, dilated nostrils, mouth wide but not projecting, hands and feet small and delicate, legs very thin and weak, coarse black hair, always lank and round in section, scant or no beard. 3 The departure from this description so frequently noticed in the archipelago must be attributed to intermixture with the black Papuan stock in the east, and with a distinct pre-Malay Caucasic element in the west. The presence of this &quot; Indonesian &quot; element, as it is called by Dr Hamy, may now be regarded as an ascertained fact, the recogni tion of which will help to remove many of the difficulties hitherto associated with the natural history of the Malay race. It at once explains, for instance, the apparent dis crepancy between the foregoing description of the ordinary Malay and that of the Battas, Orang Kabu, and many other Sumatran and Bornean peoples described as tall and robust, with regular features, symmetrical figure, light complexion, brown and wavy hair, and general European appearance. 4 These considerations also enable us to fix the true centre of dispersion of the Malay race rather in Malacca than in Sumatra, contrary to the generally received opinion. If they are to be physically allied to the Mongol stock, it is obvious that the earliest migration must have been from High Asia southwards to the peninsula, and thence to Sumatra, possibly at a time when the island still formed part of the mainland. The national traditions of a disper sion from Menangkabo or Palembang in South Sumatra must accordingly be understood to refer to later movements, and more especially to the diffusion of the civilized Malay peoples, who first acquired a really national development in Sumatra in comparatively recent times. From this point they spread to the peninsula, to Borneo, Sulu, and other parts of Malaysia, apparently since their conversion to Islam, although there is reason to believe that other waves of migration must have reached Further India and especially Camboja, if not from the same region at all events from Java, at much earlier dates. The impulse to these earlier movements must be attributed to the intro- 1 Wallace s Malay Archipelago, 5th e&amp;lt;l., p. E91. 2 Miiller says 4 ft. 6 in. to 5 ft. ; Wallace 5 ft. 2 in. to 5 ft. 4 in. ; Flower 5 ft. 3 in. ; others 5 ft. 3 See Dr A. B. Meyer, Minakassa auf Celebes, Berlin, 1876, p. 7. 4 See Schouw-Santvoort, in Annales de I Extreme Orient, 1878-70, p. 148 ; and Montano, Proc. Roy. Geol. Soc., 1881, p. 593. duction of Indian culture through the Hindu and Buddhist missionaries, perhaps two or three centuries before the Christian era. During still more remote prehistoric times various sections of the Malay and Indonesian stocks were diffused westwards to Madagascar, where the Hovas, of undoubted Malay descent, still hold the political supre macy, and eastwards to the Philippines, Formosa, Micro nesia, and Polynesia. This astonishing expansion of the Malaysian peoples throughout the Oceanic area is suffi ciently attested by the diffusion of a common Malayo- Polynesian speech from Madagascar to Easter Island, and from Hawaii to New Zealand. See POLYNESIA. The Malays proper have long been divided socially into three dis tinct groups, the Orang Bem ta, or &quot; Men of the Soil,&quot; that is, the uncivilized wild tribes ; the Orang-laut, or &quot; Men of the Sea,&quot; that is, the semi-civilized floating population ; and the Orang Malayv, or &quot;Malay Men,&quot; that is, the civilized Malays with a culture, a literature, and a religion. The Orang Bem ia, called also Orang G liming, or &quot; Highlanders,&quot; and sometimes even Orang-utan, or &quot;Wild Men,&quot; constitute the aboriginal Malay element, the &quot; raw material,&quot; so to say, of the race, which has hitherto remained wholly unaffected by foreign influences, and which is still grouped in small tribes at a very low stage of culture, living nearly exclusively by the chase, and almost destitute of all social organization. They are found chiefly in the more inaccessible wooded uplands of Malacca and Sumatra, in the former region more or less intimately associated for ages with the Negrito tribes, and in the latter island apparently the sole occupiers of the land from the first. Interme diate between the Orang Benua and Orang Malay u are the Orang- laut, the &quot;Sea Gipsies&quot; of English writers, who still occupy the same low social position that they held when the Portuguese first reached Malaysia. They were then described by De Barros under the name of Collates, or &quot;people of the Straits,&quot; as &quot;a vile people dwelling more on the sea than on the land,&quot; and &quot;living by fish ing and robbing&quot;; and this description is still largely applicable, although piracy is now all but suppressed in the Eastern waters. The Bajau and Millanau of the Sulu Archipelago and neighbouring coast lands also belong to this class of sea nomads. Lastly, the Orang Malayu are that section of the race which, under the influence first of the Hindus and then of the Arabs, has developed a national life and culture, and which has founded more or less powerful political states in various parts of the archipelago. But here again it h necessary to distinguish between the civilized Malays proper, and the other civilized branches of the race, to whom the term Malay is never applied, and who speak languages which, while belonging to the common Malay linguistic family, differ greatly from the standard Malay speech. The chief divisions of all these civilized communities are as under : Orang Malayu : Menangkabo, Palembang, and Lampong in Sumatra ; petty states of the Malay Peninsula ; Borneo ; Tidor ; Ternate. Sumatran group : Aehinese, Rejangs, Passumahs. Javanese group : Javanese proper, Sundanese, Madurese, Balinese. Celebes group : Bugis, Mangkassara, and others. Philippine group : Tagalas, Bisayans, Bicol, Sulu, and others, Outlying groups : Hovas of Madagascar, Formosan Islanders. In all these the distinctly Malay physical type decidedly pre dominates, whereas elsewhere in the archipelago the so-called Malays are often rather &quot; Indonesians,&quot; in whom the distinct! } r Caucasic physical type predominates. Such especially are the Battas and Orang Kubu of Sumatra, the Nias and Mentawey islanders, the Kayans, and many of the Dyak tribes of Borneo. 5 In their temperament no less than in their features the Malays still betray their Asiatic origin. They are described as of a taciturn, undemonstrative disposition, little given to outward manifestations of joy or sorrow, yet extremely courteous towards each other, and as a rule kind to their women, children, and domestic animals. Slow and deliberate in speech, neither elated by good nor depressed by bad fortune, normally impassive and indolent, they are never theless capable of the greatest excesses when their passions are roused. U iider the influence of religious excitement, losses at gamb ling, jealousy or other domestic troubles, they are often seized by the so-called &quot; amok&quot; fever, when they will rush wildly through the crowded streets armed with their sharp krisses, cutting down all who cross their path with incredible fury and without the least discrimination. Amongst the practices and propensities _ which connect them with the Mongoloid inhabitants of Indo-China the most striking are pile-building, especially in Java and Borneo : cock-fighting, universal throughout the archipelago; a pronounced taste for putrescent fish, with a corresponding dislike of milk ; head- hunt ; ng (Borneo and Celebes); large ear-ornaments, greatly dis tending the lobe. ; husband entering the wife s family, and father 5 See Carl Bock s Head-Hunters of Borneo, p. 59.